The Bobcats-Bucks game on Monday night featured less defense than the Maginot Line as both teams blitzed each other for 51% shooting. In losing 133-99, the Bobcats allowed the Bucks to score their highest point total since 2009 and—even more embarrassingly—allowed Monta Ellis to be praised for his defense. “He’s playing as hard as he can play,” Bucks coach Jim Boylan said of Ellis afterward, “And he’s doing a whole bunch of things at both ends of the floor.” Ellis may be doing a lot of things, but I wouldn’t count defense among that bunch. True, he had 6 steals, but they were of the classic, Allen Iverson, all-or-nothing variety (quite often resulting in the latter). His primary counterparts, Ben Gordon, Kemba Walker, and Gerald Henderson, shot a collective 20-of-30. Ellis plays defense like Atlanta teachers grade tests.

Not that this matters against a team like Charlotte. When the Bobcats come to town, refraining from picking your nose is about all the defense you need to play to give yourself a shot. And that’s what happened here, as Charlotte allowed Milwaukee over, around, and through them without so much as a harsh word. “We just couldn’t play any defense,” said Henderson, “You ain’t gonna beat nobody giving up 130 points.” You certainly ain’t, Gerald, especially nobody like Larry Sanders, who faced a stiffer challenge against referee Bill Kennedy’s noggin on the opening tip-off than he would the rest of the night. In a performance he probably would give three thumbs up, Sanders finished with 24 points and more offensive rebounds than the Bobcats had as a team. The Bobcats generally struggle with Sanders-type forwards, which is to say competent ones, but it would be nice if they weren’t always setting career highs against us.

The Charlotte Bobcats really got me. Perhaps it was in fact only me, but I had hopes that they’d get off to a decent start and maybe even be competitive in 2012-13. Turns out, for the first month anyways, I was right.

The Bobcats were at one point 6-4, and exited November a reasonable 7-8. Since then, they’ve won five measly games. More importantly, they didn’t win a single game in December, and have frequently been flat-out abused on defense.

Yes, the Bobcats enter the All-Star break sitting at a depressing 12-40 and even entered the break with another disappointing blowout loss. It’s only fitting.

But in a season where Bobcats fans are probably saying “it is what it is” at a record rate, there still is a light at the end of the tunnel. After all, Charlotte isn’t about to turn things around anytime soon, which at the very least means a strong likelihood of a high lottery draft pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

With that said, it’s time for first half grades, and the Bobcats as a team get a resounding F.

Let’s break the members of the Bobcats down individually and see how they grade out through 52 games:

Mike Dunlap (HC) – D+

The hot start can’t be completely forgotten. I almost laughed when I wrote “hot start”. But that’s what a hot start is right now for the Bobcats – getting off to an “around .500″ record. Dunlap is a rookie coach working with very average talent from an overall stand-point. There’s enough here to suggest he can be solid at this level, but from a record stand-point it’s clear he’s been unsuccessful. I still have hope for him, but wouldn’t be shocked at all if he’s one and done in Charlotte, either.

The Charlotte Bobcats have surprised everyone with a solid start to the 2012-13 NBA season, sitting at 7-7 and for the moment holding the eight and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Whether or not that spot holds 68 games from now is anyone’s guess, but trade talk is going to swing around eventually.

After all, the Bobcats have some pieces we all know they’d like to move, while other commodities like versatile point guards (Ramon Sessions) and bench shooters (Ben Gordon) could be chased down by other playoff contenders. The Bobcats might want to hold onto their assets for their own playoff run, but being such a young team with budding talent, they will likely listen to any and all offers that involve high draft picks, more young talent, or that could help free up unwanted conctracts (Tyrus Thomas, anyone?).

With that said, let’s take a look at the most likely Bobcats trade rumors that could start swirling:

Tyrus Thomas – PF

Thomas is on the shelf for a couple of months with a leg issue, but once back, he could be the subject of some Bobcats trade rumors. He’s a heck of a talent, but he’s one that hasn’t really panned out quite as expected over the course of his career, and some might say he’s a bust. Regardless, he still offers highlight reel dunks and can make an impact as a rebounder and shot-blocker. The big problem, however, is his heavy contract, which pays him out more than $8 million in each of the next two seasons. The Bobcats will have a tough time finding a team willing to take his salary on, regardless of his talent and potential. Bank on Thomas sticking in Charlotte for at least one more year unless a crazy deal comes Charlotte’s way.

My original plan was to turn from previewing the forwards in the first column to the centers in this column.  But then I saw Gana Diop’s gargantuan landmass body and Louisiana Purchase-sized contract and realized I needed to turn away.  I’m sorry, but I just can’t talk about him yet; there are still too many demons.  Plus I just got through the Tyrus Thomas/Bismack Biyombo combo we’ve got going on at the 4-spot, and to go from there to the Brendon Haywood/Gana Diop platoon at center would be like having to review back-to-back screenings of Battleship and Sparkle.  So instead I’m going to pace myself by hitting the guards next.  I should have a hold of myself in time to talk to the centers later in the week.

As for the guards, to the extent that the Bobcats have a best unit, this is it.  I was thrilled that Charlotte didn’t re-sign DJ Augustin, who had regressed last year and started suffering chronic injuries.  For better or for worse, Rich Cho has shown that he’s not going to overpay anyone.  In the case of letting Augustin walk (or limp out on his cracked feet) and signing Ramon Sessions to a stunningly reasonable 2-year, $10M deal, it’s all for the better.  As the bigger player, Sessions is much more effective at getting to the rim than Augustin was and a more able rebounder and defender.  If you want to be as conservative as possible, you can just consider his time with Cleveland last year and ignore his time with the Lakers, in which all of his stats got turbo-boosted (and, needless to say, Cleveland’s team is a far better comparison to Charlotte than the Lakers).  With the Cavs, Sessions’ eFG% and passing rating were basically on par with Augustin’s, but he took more than twice as many foul shots and held opponents to a PER of 16.5—compared to Augustin’s 19.8.  These might seem like small potatoes, but consider that the Bobcats would have had to make a qualifying offer of $4.4M to Augustin to retain him, and for just $600K more they got a better all-around player who has also played in over 95% of his games since 2008.  The fact that I have had to justify this move more in accounting terms than in basketball terms is admittedly not very inspiring, but just remember all of this when we see Augustin sitting on the Indiana bench for a third of the season, nursing his cracked feet and tendinitis.

Some of you may have read part 1 of mine and Christian “Bodin” Norway’s Q & A session earlier in the week. However, the response was great the only way we could answer all the question in the detail they deserve was to split the article in two, so here it is. Part 2.

1) Isguros: What’s your opinion about not re-signing Derrick Brown, was it to clear cap space in order to sign a big free agent or do the bobcats think Jeff Taylor will be a better player this season?

James Plowright:  One thing Cho has repeatedly emphasized is he wants is flexibility, this is why he was rescinded rather than going for a big FA signing. I think just having the roster spots open and saving 3 million on CAP space is the reason. Derrick Brown was never going to be the make or break of this franchise, I mean as much as like his pre game dancing and his highlight dunks he is a rotation player. I actually think he made quite a few strides last year, he started rebounding at a better rate and began to hit the midrange jumper. But, you can see the roster changes we have made this offseason, it has been close to a total overhaul and for that to happen you need flexibility. We had not drafted Jeff Taylor (28^th June) when we rescinded Derrick Brown’s QA (18^th June). So it is not like the front office picked Taylor over Brown. However, in answer to your questions, yes I think Jeff Taylor will be a better player this season and throughout his career. Taylor is a much better defensive player, can guard 1-4, is a better shooter and is still pretty athletic.

Christian “Norway” Bodin: I’m not sure I like it really. He is showed a lot of promise last year and could be a valuable rotation player this season, especially if injury strikes either MKG (which is likely with his slim body at this point) or Jeff Taylor. I personally think Jeff Taylor could come in and do as well a job, if not better than Derrick Brown, but Brown is bigger and better inside, where he could play some 4 when going small. I thought we would keep him to play the scrap minutes at the three. As far as clearing cap-space, he would still be in his rookie contract if he resigned. It was a qualifying option, and it doesn’t seem like a lot of teams are willing to pay a significant amount of money on him. It might have been that they were trying to negotiate for someone, but failed to get it through, and maybe they will invite him to training camp and give him a new contract, who knows. Either way, I think giving him a final year would benefit us so I didn’t really get it.

What a great time to be a Bobcats fan!  Exciting trades, fresh new faces, and no 30-point losses to remind you of how catastrophically disastrous it was to choose this team to root for—one of many ill-fated decisions you’ve made in your troubled existence that will haunt you night and day, with the only relief being your own inevitable death.  It’s great!  With that in mind, I’ve created my own Summer League Awards:

Best Coaching Move: Mike Dunlap’s 2-2-1 press.

Coach Dunlap believez in the trap, be-lievez in the trap.  And at least for the Summer League, I was totally with him.  The biggest reason for the Bobcats’ 4-1 record in Vegas was because their defense harassed more than Clarence Thomas, forcing 113turnovers in five games.  I understand the importance of developing players in a more realistic defense rather than coaching for wins, and 99 out of 100 times I would argue the same thing.  But coming off a 7-win season is that 100th time.  Besides, even Dunlap doesn’t argue that they’re going with this look full-time when the regular season starts. “When you get into the season, we can take it off; we can do it at times versus certain teams,” he said in Friday’s ESPN Daily Dime.  So long as he can switch defenses as nimbly as he switches speaking in the second person to the first person, we’re all set.

Biggest Bummer: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s injury.

So hero-starved are Bobcats fans that Kidd-Gilchrist’s bravura debut against the Kings was borderline sexually arousing.  18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 8 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals, +28 for the night.  And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better…it didn’t, because he tweaked his knee and we never saw him again!  Still, I don’t care if it’s Summer League, I’m anointing Jesus Gilchrist as my personal savior.